30 TouMaki Cheesy Tropes
by Ludella
Summary: Different spins on TouMaki in 30 different AUs or scenarios. Expected to be fluffy, smutty, and as gross and cliche as it gets.
1. Coffee Shop AU

Makishima loathed how desperate he was for money sometimes, and how it really kept him from doing what he wanted. It was true that his family was rather well off, enough for them to send his older brother to London without any problems, but Makishima didn't feel right buying any of his cycling equipment off of their savings. There was something about buying the gear to success with your own money that made victory taste even sweeter.

That being said, he wasn't that fond of working in general. It sounded rather nice in concept, doing so much work, earning money, and profit. Though he didn't care for labor, the cycle was one he could respect, and Makishima had fewer problems working if that profit was guaranteed. What no one ever included was the struggle it took to actually find a job, and one he could manage doing with little experience. Or could even stand doing. As soon as he was of age to begin job hunting Makishima had started, though it took until his second year of high school to find one. Even then it wasn't anything nice or exciting. For the first few months he'd been sentenced to stock, cleaning, and odd jobs around a coffee shop chain.

There were quite a few other rookies that worked alongside him only to drop out quickly upon realizing they were far from the "dream job" they'd imagine they were picking up. Unable to be phased as he wasn't fond of any job in general, Makishima was one of the only few who lasted long enough to be promoted to barista.

Immediately, he wanted to return to his time cleaning off tables and fixing equipment, as dealing with the customers proved to be more difficult. He was already troubled by social situations in general, and having to deal with such stubborn, unnervingly serious people ("I asked for three different layers of shots, not for them to be mixed with the rest!") was a great struggle. His coworkers on the other hand, couldn't seem more grateful for his presence at the counter. For some reason, he appeared to be one of the only able to keep customers from complaining for what reason he could only assume to be his intimidating, naturally displeased face. At least his lack of expression was finally good for something.

If only it worked for all customers.

"Good morning, Maki!"

He visibly cringed, slowly turning back to the counter. Every day consistently for two years now, that "morning ritual" burst right through the doors, not failing today as usual.

"Oh, you put your hair up today! You should put it up more often, it looks really cute! Do you ever put it in different hairstyles? You totally should!" The excited boy gushed with too much gusto to be human at this hour, trotting right up to the counter where thankfully (only for him) there was no line.

"Good morning," Makishima sighed, leaning against the glass display case and speaking out of courtesy. He ignored everything else he was saying. "The usual again today?"

Toudou crossed one of his arms over his chest, grabbing his chin and humming loudly as if in deep thought. Watching the other's eyes scan over the boards above him and sway back on his feet, Makishima couldn't help but roll his eyes-as if he ever got anything different. "Yeah, but maybe another shot of espresso; I'm pretty tired today!" Irony was Makishima's greatest enemy.

Taking only a few steps back, he grabbed the drink already packaged and opened the lid to make the changes Toudou had given. Usually he would take the time to prepare his drink each day, but today, Makishima had different plans in mind. Worrisome ones, at that. He slid the cardboard cover over the middle of the cup after replacing the lid (casually removing a sharpie from sight) and returned to the counter. Upon seeing his order pre-made, Toudou grinned widely.

"Maki, don't tell me you were looking forward to seeing me today too!"

"I was trying to get you out of here faster."

The rude remark only earned him a loud laugh as he set the usual amount of money on the counter with a bit more for the extra shot. "You're cruel, Maki. If only you'd give me your number, I'd forgive you. But, unfortunately, I actually do have to go early. My bike's chain broke so I have to take the bus to school instead; totally sad, right?" Makishima hummed a half-hearted response, staring at Toudou expectantly. "But I'll be here tomorrow and able to stay longer, so don't worry about it! If you ever change your mind, we can totally race starting tomorrow!"

"Shouldn't you be leaving then, Toudou?" Makishima cut him off just as he opened his mouth to continue. If he let him keep going, he was sure they'd be here until the end of his shift. Appearing surprised, Toudou laughed and shook his head, giving the barista a charming look with the intent to kill, he was sure. He lingered for just a moment to express a few more ritual words ("I keep seeing your bike, we should race sometime," "Take care of yourself," "Be here tomorrow!") before skipping his way out the door.

And finally, Makishima could breathe a sigh of relief. Toudou wasn't the only one to have learned a number of the other's habits in the years they'd met at the counter. The only problem was that bit about the bus-would it work in time, he wondered? Usually Toudou would sit in the cafe studying, waiting until his cup was cool enough to take the sleeve off his drink and only then actually enjoy it. He wouldn't leave until he was entirely finished, either. But if he never took the sleeve off his cup… all of his worrying would be for naught, and then he'd just be a fool.

Makishima's shift only ended an hour after, just a few minutes before he had to be at class (though it was never a problem, seeing as university was closer on his bike). As soon as he picked up his bag he could feel his phone vibrating continuously from a contact he'd saved a while ago and never communicated with.

_[(06:30) toudou jinpachi] maki! Ｏ__(≧▽≦)Ｏ_  
_[(06:31) toudou jinpachi] i can't believe u finally gave me your #, im so happy!_  
_[(06:31) toudou jinpachi] does this mean you want to race? u cant hide anything from me! (´ω｀ __)_  
_[(06:33) toudou jinpachi] why ddidnt you just text me 1st? i gave you my # like a MILLION times?_  
_[(06:34) toudou jinpachi] i dont mind, maki giving me his contact in such a sly manner is super cute ヾ__(◍'౪__`◍)ﾉﾞ _  
_[(06:40) toudou jinpachi] hey maki, answer me already_  
_[(06:45) toudou jinpachi] makiiiii im texting in class for you, ill get caught and youll feel really bad!_  
_[(06:57) toudou jinpachi] MAKI! ｡゜__(｀__Д´)゜｡_  
_[(07:03) toudou jinpachi] did i make u mad already? ur too mean if u gave me ur # just to ignore me! (´；__ω；__`)_  
_[(07:11) toudou jinpachi] cruel! SO cruel! i'll start ignoring you now!_

Makishima couldn't help but smile, running his fingers through his hair in exasperation. Typical Toudou after all. Somehow after two years of small chat at the counter, this didn't feel too odd.

_[(07:17) makishima yuusuke] stop texting me so much already, you should learn some manners. i had to get off work_  
_[(07:18) toudou jinpachi] maki!_

The next day when Toudou burst through the door without reservation and all but jumped up to hug Makishima over the counter, he almost regretted his decision to give him his number in the first place-thankfully it was only Toudou's drink he spilled.


	2. IdolFan AU

pMakishima was less embarrassed to ask him to repeat than he was just thinking about what the boy in front of him may have said./p

pPuffing out his chest, the other assured his words louder./p

p"I'm a fan of yours, Makishima! I was at your last concert here a while ago!"/p

pHe wanted to tell him straight up that it was emimpossible/em he would remember something from that long ago, or any concert in general. Their band wasn't anything small after the year or two they'd debuted, and they successfully managed to pull large crowds wherever they were scheduled to perform. It was a rather nice deal they had struck but, well, with all the fans they'd gotten…/p

p"Ah… haha, thanks for coming…"/p

p"Why are you looking away? Hey! Don't just ignore me like that!"/p

pToudou found him on accident. An underclassman on his team brought the idea of going to a concert up to him, one he hadn't heard of before, and what was the harm in going? He agreed, seeing as the day was one he'd scheduled into being a 'free day.' It was a good chance for getting closer to the teammate he was supposed to personally train./p

pWhat he didn't count on was actually emenjoying/em the performance. The group was made up of high schoolers, surprising for how popular they seemed to be, with half of the team around Toudou's age himself. They were all rather… unique, so to say, and hardly like a team at all with the looks exchanged between a few of them (especially the short and tall guitar players, nearly fighting on stage over position). Manami got his attention again at the end of their procession on stage, pointing out the shortest and most out of place boy as his favorite. Toudou could only nod along in what he hoped seemed sincere interest./p

pBut it's what come on stage last that really caught his interest. Or, more specifically, emwho/em./p

pThe bassist took his place last, fitting in with the odd group, but also standing out in his sheer… difference, so to say. Toudou could hardly define the presence that he held within the rest of the band. They were all interesting in their own ways, with each others' quirks all complimenting each other. But there was just something different about that lanky, green haired bassist. None of the crowd's eyes seemed to fall on him for more than a short moment, and for that reason, it was hard for Toudou's to pull away./p

pThe beginning of the actual performance was enough to break his train of thought for a moment before returning right to watching him. Sure, he felt a tad guilty for hardly paying any attention to the rest of the band members, but it was just so difficult when there was something as interesting as emthat/em on stage. He didn't smile. His head never lifted concentrating on his instrument. His long, spindly arms held the bass in a way Toudou wasn't sure you were supposed to and yet somehow it was working. It was definitely a performance./p

pHe didn't keep track of time, and before he knew it, the crowd was panicking and the band eventually proceeding off the stage in the direction they'd come from. Manami tugged on Toudou's shirt to catch his attention, guiding the two of them to the exit a few moments later./p

p"They were good, weren't they?"/p

pToudou had to consider his answer. "Yeah, not bad. Come on, I need to get home for my beauty rest."/p

pIf only that's what he had in mind. Without question Manami agreed, both of them eventually separating ways to return to their respective homes with promises to practice together tomorrow as usual. The younger seemed unexpectedly tired while leaving as if all of the commotion from tonight had finally caught up to him, and Toudou attempted to mimic the same exhaustion. Dragging himself back to his home, he walked his bike to the back where all his equipment was and excused himself from any dinner as he was simply emso/em tired, Toudou quickly hurried back to his room to grab at his laptop./p

pHe was just too curious./p

pIn a month, his room took quite the dramatic turn. There were suddenly posters covering his pristine walls, CDs stacked up over his desk, and magazines (emclean ones/em) littered across the room. The band had been too interesting to pass up looking into. As soon as he'd gotten home from the concert, Toudou immediately took to looking up the group personally, thrilled to discover Manami had taken him to what appeared to be a relatively popular group. Looking back on the performance, Toudou realized that there hadn't been any specific demographic they were playing for, remembering the faces of girls and boys from their teenage years up in the crowd. It was a bit odd once he actually thought back on it. But the best part about such a large audience was emmerchandise/em./p

pThe magazines took longer to collect than the rest, seeing as he was interested in the old issues as well. Anything that contained information. He learned that they hadn't been a group for more than two years, his name was Makishima Yuusuke, the guitarists and keyboard player were new, his name was Makishima Yuusuke, they'd played a variety of genres that just suited whatever mood they were in, and his name was emMakishima Yuusuke/em./p

pIt suited him, he thought. As soon as Toudou found out, he felt as if he was getting closer yet even farther from understanding why he was so interesting. Out of all the interviews, Makishima had the least, and whichever ones he was included in were mostly interrogations on his odd style of performing. He didn't seem very comfortable in any of them anyway. It was the fastest Toudou had gone to learning about something he was interested in, with his bike knowledge being accumulated through the years, and in a matters of months. He may as well have become a die-hard already./p

pFor that reason, it came as a surprise to Manami when Toudou sauntered towards him proudly after practice and slapped two tickets on the bench beside him. "We're going," he announced, reaching into his jacket pocket again to throw two more cards down with [BACKSTAGE] printed in bold letters. "The whole thing."/p

pManami didn't question a thing, beaming up at his senior ecstatically./p

pToudou all but raced to the venue when the time came, leading Manami this time and guiding them around the entire place. "Have you been to any other concerts, Toudou?" he asked after they'd settled into a nice place in the front-side of the rows of seats (they made sure they were earlier this time as to not fight for places)./p

p"Not really. This is my second!"/p

pHe was much more into things when the show eventually started, eyes practically lighting up when the group waltzed on stage. Even if he had spent a good amount of time and effort becoming a new fan, seeing the band in person was always a completely different experience. Toudou could actually name each of the members now as they walked on stage, and he knew most of the basic band-groupie info on them. All the interesting quirks, relations, and stories that fans seemed to love most, Toudou had memorized. He'd admit without hesitation that all of the band members were talented and compelling in their own ways, but all that mattered to him was-/p

pRight there. The main performance himself, Makishima Yuusuke./p

pHe barely remembered he'd even brought Manami for half of the concert, constantly losing track of him after his main point of interest had taken stage. Each time he found he was being equally ignored by the younger as well. The two were completely caught up in opposite focuses./p

pThe concert felt much shorter than the previous and Toudou wasn't sure if he was relieved or not, seeing as the big plans only came once the initial event was over. As soon as the encore had finished, he had Manami's wrist in his hand, yanking the boy around until they were behind stage with a couple of other excited fans (mostly men, of all things). The tickets took a while to get his hands on and a bit of money he'd rather keep to himself, but he was optimistic. How terrible could things go, anyways? They were all high-schoolers. Just like them./p

pHe wasn't sure what reaction he'd been expecting when he came back to finally meet his current interest./p

p"I… see…" Makishima continued awkwardly, looking anywhere but Toudou's face. He could tell he was being avoided, and for what reason? Wasn't it kind of a thing where people at least had to respect the fans that came to see them?/p

p"Can't you at least smile?" he pestered relentlessly and turned his body to try and meet the other's line of sight. "Is this how you treat all of your fans?"/p

pHe finally got the bassist to turn his attention to him, though his expression was anything but comfortable meeting Toudou's eye. He appeared at a loss for words, fidgeting with his hands while trying to think of what to say. "Not many emfans/em come this way, you know. Usually they settle for the charming, prettier guys up there," with a nod of his head to the rest of the band. "I'm not really ever… prepared for these kinds of things."/p

pToudou backed off enough to give him a bit of space. Not used to fans? He supposed it made sense, comparing this one to the rest of the men he performed with; there was a distinct difference between them, and that was the sole reason Toudou had become interested. Besides that, there wasn't anything outwardly noticeable about him. Not enough to attract anyone for any other reason./p

p"Then this is good news for you!" Before Makishima could respond, his hands were gripped tight in the other's. "Nice to meet you, Makishima. My name's Toudou Jinpachi-I'm your fan!" he recited proudly, grin never leaving his face as the words that may as well have been rehearsed for how cliche they were came out./p

p"A-Ah? Ah… you too. Thanks."/p

pToudou's face fell. That wouldn't do at all./p

p"Hey, actually look at me when you're talking! I just said I was a fan, I came here to see you! This is the part where you're supposed to smile, smile!" To demonstrate, he pointed at his own face while pulling one of the most charming expressions he could manage./p

p...only to have the other display a much more horrifying image of-god, was that a emsmile/em?!/p

pToudou must've pulled quite a face himself in reaction, seeing how the expression immediately fell from the other./p

p"...It's fine, no one really come over here anyways-"/p

p"Not emfine/em! That's definitely not fine at all! You can't go through life becoming a celebrity not knowing how to smile!" Toudou immediately shouted, almost offended at his apathy. "You're supposed to be charming, or at least try to be! You don't fit in at all if you can't smile!"/p

pMaybe that was a bit far, considering the frown Makishima made in turn. Toudou was never that good at noticing the harshness in his own words. "I'm not in the band to be charming and attractive, I'm here to emplay/em-"/p

p"What's the use of that fame if you can't even take advantage of it!"/p

p"It's not all about those things!" Makishima raised his voice, becoming more and more upset as they spoke. "There's much more to practicing and talent than just using your good looks to get everything!"/p

pToudou groaned in exasperation. How was it turning out like this? He hadn't expected Makishima to be this emimpossible/em to deal with, and certainly not this… un-famous attitude. He'd had it. "Fine, here," he sighed, reaching into his pocket for the album and sharpie he'd brought originally for an autograph. "I can't just let a rising emcelebrity/em try to get away with such an unprofessional attitude. Here."/p

pThe CD was offered to Makishima, and he accepted it quite suspiciously. He never expected the day he'd be asked for an autograph personally, much less the day a fan gave him one emback/em on his emown album/em. But examining it for a moment, he found it wasn't just the name of the boy before him./p

p"Your… emphone number/em?!"/p

p"That's right! If you don't work on improving your idol aura, I'll be super upset. I'll probably trash your image on the internet, or something," he shrugged. "That's why you'll definitely be texting me and definitely start improving on your, uh, everything." He nodded to himself as if he'd just come up with the best plan possible. Toudou, you gorgeous genius, you. "I'll be your smiling coach-no, your emappearance/em coach!"/p

pIn shock, Makishima appeared at a loss for words. His mouth flapped open and closed as he tried to place his thoughts, much less his words. Was this guy emserious/em? "Why would I… ever, ever do something like that!"/p

p"Don't you want more fans? Or at least, to fit in with the rest of those guys?"/p

pBy the look on his face and how he hesitated, Toudou would venture to say he had hit the bullseye./p

pHis grin spread even wider than before as he straightened himself back up. "That's a deal then, Maki," (he flinched at the sudden nickname), "I'll be waiting for your message! Don't you dare stand up your number one fan now!"/p

p"H-Hey, wait! Who said that I was going to-" But Toudou had already turned his back on him by the time he began speaking. He skipped away rather merrily, leaving Makishima behind to wallow in his confusion./p

pWhat had just happened?/p

pToudou reunited with his companion then, half-listening to Manami go on about the short boy he'd been speaking with for a while. It was good to know that for all the time he'd spent ignoring him, Manami had been able to enjoy himself as well. Though he felt obligated to at least listen to him now, most of Toudou's attention remained on the phone settled in his pocket, waiting for any sensation there to alert him./p

pThey continued to chat lightly while biking their way home until they had to separate on their different paths, giving Toudou a few minutes of the night air to enjoy by himself. Tonight was probably the most excitement he'd had in quite a while, and that said a lot, considering the team he spent so much time practicing with. It was a good type of excitement, he decided./p

pAs soon as he was home he was off to the shower. Besides all of the good that had come from tonight, there still remained a persistent stench of grime and sweat on him from the concert itself. One of the main downsides that came with, but always worth it. A nice cold shower to relax after a calm bike ride home did nothing but calm Toudou to his core, leaving him in the perfect condition to get the most out of his beauty sleep./p

pThe blue light flashing on his phone just made it better./p


	3. Anonymous Love Letters (Kind of)

**While I was halfway through writing this, I noticed, ah, this isn't like anonymous love letters at all! The trope fit better in my head. I guess I got carried away.**

* * *

"I'll just be a few minutes-and _do not_ touch anything in my room, you hear?"

"Got it, got it, hurry up and go already, I wanna leave!"

Giving Toudou one last look of suspicion, Makishima shook his head in exasperation before closing the bathroom door. Toudou was left on his own right about then, not that he really minded. Immediately, he dropped back, falling onto the cushioned bed with his arms spread out. Being in Maki's house was always exciting-being unsupervised? Even better.

Due to a few unfortunate cancellations, there wouldn't be any races coming up for a while. They were the only times Toudou and Makishima ever got to meet, save a rare coincidence. It hardly felt like they were never without each other though, seeing how in touch they (or at least Toudou) stayed. Still, it was a disappointment to both upon finding they wouldn't be able to compete again for a while, thus they decided to simply hold a race of their own. And just to be fair, they'd both picked a course, making that two races in one day.

The first had finished with Toudou in the lead and winded them more than they'd expected. They came to the agreement that a small pitstop couldn't hurt, and thankfully, Makishima's house was on the way to the second starting point. "Just enough for a shower and lunch," Toudou declared, making sure none of their precious time together was wasted.

Despite rushing for time, Toudou had to admit that being in Makishima's house like this was rather exciting. He was so touchy about anyone getting near any of his things, yelling about execution and exile before he could even step through the door. Well, Toudou couldn't blame him as he was picky about his belongings as well, only more for the fact of everything having its organized place.

But his wonder and excitement quickly wore off when there was nothing to do.

He let Makishima take the first shower, seeing as they both took their time but Toudou was willing to rush his for the sake of getting back on the track. Yet only five minutes alone and he was getting antsy. Maki's room was lined wall to wall with bicycle magazines and books, but they were all things Toudou had read before. If he just kept laying like this, he'd end up falling asleep, and that was no way to prepare for a race! He would turn on the TV if Maki hadn't given him such a harsh look upon seeing Toudou eye the remote earlier. So touchy.

His salvation came with a vibration on the bed, notifying him of a text message for which he immediately snatched his phone up for. Finally, if he could just talk to someone he'd be able to hold himself back from going through all of Makishima's things and making the boy angry a-

Toudou blinked, raising a brow at the screen of his phone. No messages. There were no texts, emails, calls, alarms, anything… Perhaps it'd been his imagination trying to trick him into believing what he wanted. Or at least, that's what he thought until he felt another vibration on top of the bed. Even heard it, too, and it was definitely the same strength and duration that his phone made for notifications. It was definitely his phone if, you know, it wasn't_ in his hand_.

He opened his phone back up for one more look, and sure enough Makishima was the last person he'd texted. Nothing new, either. Perhaps something had sent late and got caught in the middle? There were more than a few areas between them where the signal cut out. Just to be thorough, Toudou pulled up Makishima's contact and began going over their messages starting from a few days ago once again.

_**[(15:05) toudou jinpachi]**__ maki! HORRIBLE TERRIBLE AWFUL NEWS!_  
_**[(15:15) makishima yuusuke]**__ what_  
_**[(15:16) toudou jinpachi]**__ THE RACE the race we were going to at the end of the month?_  
_**[(15:17) toudou jinpachi]**__ CANCELLED. IT WAS SCHEDULED INCORRECTLY AND CONFLITED WITH SOMETHING BIGGER RO SOMETHING I DK_  
_**[(15:20) makishima yuusuke]**__ that's so annoying! we haven't raced in months either_  
_**[(15:21) toudou jinpachi]**__ I KNOW? I'M ABOUT TO GIVE THEM A PIECE OF MY MIND!_  
_**[(15:22) makishima yuusuke]**__ doubt there's anything you could do now_  
_**[(15:23) toudou jinpachi]**__ I'M STILL VERY MAD!_  
_**[(15:23) toudou jinpachi]**__ the next race is like in a month!_  
_**[(15:25) makishima yuusuke]**__ can't do anything about it_  
_**[(15:26) toudou jinpachi]**__ i was sooo excited we'd get to race again, i haven't seen you in ages, you need to keep in extra tip-top shape now!_  
_**[(15:27) makishima yuusuke]**__ i always do_  
_**[(15:29) toudou jinpachi]**__ aren't you going to act worried about me? maki! what if i get sick? or hurt myself?!_  
_**[(15:31) makishima yuusuke]**__ you're not that stupid_  
_**[(15:32) toudou jinpachi]**__ i could get a girlfriend and toootally forget about taking care of myself_  
_**[(15:44) makishima yuusuke]**__ as if you could_  
_**[(15:46) toudou jinpachi]**__ i could! i totally could! i have a TON of fans!_

They went on bickering uselessly for a while, teasing each other about girls and fans and whose style was more appealing. Toudou had enjoyed it immensely, seeing as Makishima rarely ever carried on a conversation for more than half an hour. But there wasn't anything different there or the texts from today either.

He glanced over, immediately feeling ridiculous as he caught sight of Makishima's cell phone on the other side of the bed. It was _his_ phone going off. 'Since when was Maki more popular than me' was his first thought. 'Who is he talking to so much' was the second and followed up by the most genius decision of 'I should check.'

There was not an ounce of shame in his mind as he reached for his friend's phone, nor any when he slid it open to check his messages. Both thankfully and disappointingly, it didn't seem to be anything too interesting, just two or three 'Hello! how are you?' messages from Sohoku's other climber. Onoda, he remembered. Toudou had hoped it'd be more engaging, like some spilling of secrets or a confession! In the end he was left with the same boredom as before.

Well, he had Makishima's phone, now. Toudou gave it a suspicious look, glancing back up at the bathroom door and listening for the running water. He had time to spare.

Most of the messages Maki sent weren't that lively. He was known for not communicating by text as often as call, filling up the necessary ones with one word answers save the rare times he actually got into a conversation. Naturally the latter occurred almost always with Toudou before others. Recently more than ever Makishima had been responding to his texts finally, maintaining a bit of a conversation for a while before he just left it open. How he ended things was annoying, but Toudou was fine with accommodating.

For the heck of it, Toudou opened up his own contact on Makishima's messages. There wasn't much to go over seeing as he'd just gone through them on his own phone. He wasn't sure what he'd been expecting. Toudou was about to put the phone back down and return to doing nothing when he backed out of the messaging screen and onto his contact profile.

**[Drafts: 43]**

That got his attention quickly. The files were opened immediately, only to be disappointed as soon as they were read. Most of the messages were one worded "same" or "you too" types of things, with the occasional empty message with a space that had been closed too early and saved. How were these supposed to be interesting if he didn't even know the context of them? Well, thinking on it, most of the drafts on his own phone were just mistakes saved before finishing as well. He'd gotten too hopeful.

Scrolling down, he noticed a few had no place in any conversation they'd had. Toudou imagined that they were starter texts he'd never sent, mostly "hello"s or "did you hear about"s and the like. He couldn't help the warm feeling in his chest reading over them-so Maki had tried initiating conversation a few times. Every day Maki was becoming even cuter, now more than ever. Would've been nicer if he actually sent them, but that was nitpicking.

As the dates became more recent, he could vaguely recognize which conversations they were probably from. Toudou had informed him first of the race being cancelled, ranting on and on for a good while until Makishima stopped replying. That was where Toudou noticed the first difference.

_**[(15:17) makishima yuusukeDRAFT]**__ this sucks, i haven't seen you in forever  
__**[(15:18) makishima yuusukeDRAFT]**__ this sucks, we haven't seen each other in a while_

He remembered the place in their chat where something similar came up, but-right, if he checked his own phone for the actual conversation again, the message he sent was different. Afterwards, Toudou had given a list of the upcoming races that would take place later to make up for it.

...how long had it been since Maki left the room? Only ten minutes. He had time.

_**[(15:20) makishima yuusukeDRAFT]**__ so we wouldn't see each other for another month?_

Just like the previous, he'd changed the final message to just something about not being able to compete for a while. It seemed like all of the first drafts Makishima never sent were all more, well, _personal_. It was strange, seeing as he wasn't a very emotional or sensitive guy at all, but Toudou supposed this was the reason he'd never thought so-Maki never sent any of his thoughts. He couldn't help but to smile fondly over the cyclist he'd come to care for. To think he may have never found out these things. They were small, but important.

Except how was he supposed to react to these kinds of things? Confront him? Ignore them? Toudou was just beginning to worry over how to handle the situation when he came upon the very last draft. They were saved a bit before 4pm, in the middle of Toudou's bragging. Joking over girls and fanclubs was something both of them were used to and came up rather often. At least as much as reasons as to why the other having any fans was _impossible_. Toudou hadn't thought much of it when he'd gone on about getting a girlfriend, despite having no real intention to as of right now.

_**[(15:40) makishima yuusukeDRAFT]**__ where would that put me huh_

He held his breath, listening as the water in the room over suddenly stopped. Shit, shit, shit… He had a few minutes at most. Fumbling with both of their phones in hand, Toudou nearly threw them both on the ground when the door opened.

Makishima stood in the doorway in the same clothes he'd gone in in, wrapping his hair up in a towel. He gave Toudou a glare. "You didn't touch anything did you?"

"Of course not!" Toudou laughed, standing from the bed and grabbing the clean towel beside him. "I'll be out in a few, then we really _have_ to go finish racing!"

"Why wouldn't we…"

Makishima brought the towel to scrub at his face as he walked into the room, getting distracted before realizing the door hadn't shut behind him yet. Upon lowering the cloth, Toudou was standing right in front of him with a blank expression..

"...is something on my face?" was all he could ask, despite knowing that no, there was not, after having washed thoroughly.

As he spoke, Toudou's mouth stretched up into a smile as he took a step forward, grabbing Makishima's shoulders and leaning up to plant a kiss on his cheek.

"Now there is!"

He left before the other could say a word, sweeping into the bathroom and closing the door.

...huh?

Makishima was frozen in place.

_...huh?_

He couldn't process a single thought, staring straight ahead of him until he noticed their phones on the bed, his own flashing a notification. Focus on that instead, because whatever just happened-definitely did not happen. Trying to clear his thoughts, Makishima made his way over to pick up his phone and check his messages only to see it was from… Toudou?

_**[(10:01) toudou jinpachi]**__ i'll be there in five!  
__**[(10:02) makishima yuusuke]**__ ok  
_**_[(10:14) toudou jinpachi] _**_sorry traffic. i see you now!_  
_**[(14:56) makishima yuusuke]**__ where would that put me huh_  
_**[(14:56) toudou jinpachi]**__ in first place as always!_

Confusion struck before than anything else. The time stamp labeled them for having been sent just two minutes ago. And with that, he didn't remember having sent any message like that at all-

But he remembered _writing_ one.

Panic took confusion's place as he exited out of Toudou's contact, only to offhandedly notice Onoda had sent him a few messages as well. Oddly enough, his phone already marked them as read, despite having never seen-

The pieces were coming together.

"_Toudou_!"

"Kyaa~ Maki, you can't come in here, I'm indecent!"

"You're about to be a whole lot worse!"


End file.
